Fifty years ago, the main thing on everyone’s mind must have been the upcoming election.

Ads filled the pages of The Atmore Advance. I included some of them but, by no means could I list them all.

In the governor’s race, there were ads running for Lurleen Wallace and John Patterson. Glen Holt was running against incumbent Scotty Byrne for sheriff. Malcolm Edwards was running for state representative, while Sibyl Poole was running to be on the Public Services Commission. Hugh Fountain, Leonard Peevy and E. B. White were all trying to be elected to be the tax collector.

There was an announcement that a large seed company was to locate in Atmore. Northrup King Co. was to make Atmore its southeastern research center.

I am not familiar with this one, so I don’t know what the outcome of this announcement was.

Atmore Jaycees were set up to have a huge political rally at the school football stadium. They were expecting a large crowd, including many candidates to be present. Judge Hugh Rozelle was to be the master of ceremonies.

Political rallies were very popular it seems. They were also scheduled for Lottie and Walnut Hill with supper being served in Walnut Hill.

A big remodel of the Atmore Post Office was complete and reopened for business.

A very good bargain appeared in the newspaper that Sears was offering the gift of a free ham to anyone who bought a stove. Now, it has been a long time since I saw a deal like that one.

The A&P was selling strawberries at three pints for 89 cents. That was a bargain.

Now, I don’t know how you feel, but I absolutely love strawberries. Thank goodness I am not allergic to them. I must say that two of my great-grandchildren love them too. On a recent visit, they kept me busy getting the berries fixed with the right amount of sugar.

It was announced that construction was to begin on a new maximum-security prison at the Atmore Prison Farm. It was to house 532 inmates. I wonder how many are housed there today?

A big blood drive was to be held at the prison to get blood to be used for the military in Vietnam. They were expected to collect 500 pints for the Red Cross. This was in 1966, so the battles were already going on in that far away country that some of us never even heard of before. I can remember when an announcement was made every day on how many had been wounded and killed. Soon, that number would rise so high that they stopped reporting it to the public.